Dealing with correspondence

Authentication is a normal part of dealing with all customer correspondence requiring achange to their CIS record whether it be an application for a change of payment status,contractors Monthly Return or any other correspondence. You should only use the‘Waive’ facility to bypass the ‘Authenticate Customer’ window where you are satisfied as to the origins of the correspondence. The system will automatically note the reason for bypassing the authentication windows on the CIS record at View Contact History when you use the Waive’ facility. This action does not affect the need to be certain that the correspondence has originated from the customer or their appointed representative.

General Guidance – things to check

Verify the source of correspondence is from either from the customer or their authorised representative

If an application form, check it is complete and signed

Check signatures with any source material already held in CIS31, CIS32 or CIS91 folders. This is particularly important where the correspondence includes any name or address changes.

Only after having considered the correspondence in this way should you open the CIS System and

Complete the appropriate fields in the ‘Identify Customer’ window. Where the system cannot find a record it displays the following message in red atthe top left of the window ‘Customer cannot be found matching the reference entered’. If this happens always check you have entered the correct reference before you try to find the customer using other search criteria. If a customer is unable to supply a correct reference number you may still be able to find their details using either‘Find Individual’ at CISR22630 or ‘Find Scheme’ at CISR22640 dependent on the record you aretrying to trace.

* Having selected ‘Paper’ as the Channel type, the receipt date field automatically displays ‘today’s date’. This is because when dealing with ‘paper’ the piece of post or form may have been received by us before today’s date. If this is the case you will be able to delete the existing entry and enter an earlier date.
* Select the [OK] button to move to the ‘Authenticate Individual’ or other authentication window,

OR

If appropriate select the [Waive] button. This will take you to the CIS Main Menu to select the record and task you wish to perform for this customer.

If the information provided by the customer is found to be incorrect and you are still unable to verify that the correspondence is either from the customer stated or their representative after having used the trace facility, described above you should return the correspondence to the sender asking (as many) questions to enable you to be satisfied from the replies that the individual or representative is indeed who they purport to be.